While Wordpress itself is a robust and complete blogging system, to really maximize the software and make money from Google Adsense you'll need to install and use a couple of Adsense "plugins".

Most of the plugins can be found by doing a search on Google, and installation is simple and straightforward. All you need to do is upload the plugin to your web host using an FTP, and activate the plugin inside your Wordpress administration area.

1. Adsense Deluxe Wordpress Plugin

The first and most important is a plugin called "Adsense Deluxe". While this plugin will help you to display Adsense ads on your blog, it also serves other purposes. You can use this plugin to insert Javascript, PHP and almost any other type of code into your blog posts.

The Adsense Deluxe plugin will allow you to insert Adsense ads into your blog posts by including a simple code like this:

You can create multiple ad formats in the plugin's settings page, and you can always change these later without having to modify the individual blog posts. This makes it easy to test different ad formats over time, and also to replace your Adsense codes with other ads if the need arises.

2. Adsense Injection Wordpress Plugin

Unlike the Adsense Deluxe plugin, the "Adsense Injection" plugin will insert Adsense codes automatically into every blog post, including older posts.

This is great if your blog already has a lot of existing content, and you don't want to insert codes manually into all of them. As the name suggests, when you use Adsense Injection you "inject" your Adsense codes automatically and randomly into all previous and future blog posts.

Thus, you will not have to worry about what's called "ad blindness" as your Adsense blocks will appear in different positions within your content. You can also randomize different ad formats and different alignments to make sure that no two pages have the exact Adsense codes on them.

Unlike the Adsense Deluxe plugin however, the Adsense Injection plugin cannot display other Javascript ads or PHP codes.

3. Adsense Beautifier Wordpress Plugin

The Adsense Beautifier plugin just makes your ads prettier. By adding an image on top or next to your Adsense codes automatically, the plugin can help you to achieve a higher CTR (click-through) and ultimately higher Adsense earnings.

The images are generic so you can use them with any type of content. You can also create and upload your own images to be used with the Adsense Beautifier plugin. If you do this however, make sure you check with the Adsense support team as you don't want to violate any of their terms of service.